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Head
briefs
Doyle recognized as a
good place to work
By Spencer Ives
N A S H V I L L E , Te n n . — A D S
Security on May 1 announced
its purchase of The Alarm
Company, based in Jackson,
Miss., a location that ADS
will keep as its second branch
in Mississippi and its 23rd
branch overall.
"Mississippi for awhile has
been a target for expansion;
it's just been a matter of wait-
ing for the right opportunity,"
John Cerasuolo, president
and CEO of ADS Security,
told Security Systems News.
"We hope to use this as an
opportunity to accelerate our
growth throughout Missis-
sippi."
T h e d e a l a d d s 2 , 6 0 0
accounts into ADS, 80 per-
cent of which are residential
while 20 percent are commer-
cial. Following the deal, ADS'
total account base is nearing
the 100,000-account mark, a
milestone that Cerasuolo said
the company could
pass this year.
In addition to the
facility, ADS is bring-
ing on all 12 of The
A l a r m C o m p a n y 's
employees, includ-
ing its owner Tony
Collums.
"They have a great
team, a really exceptional
group of folks that Tony has
built there over the years. That
is always a primary consider-
ation for us. We're not just out
to accumulate accounts, but
to build the best team in the
industry," Cerasuolo said.
A D S ' o t h e r M i s s i s s i p p i
branch is in Columbus, about
150 miles northeast of Jack-
son. This gives each location
a serviceable range of about
75 miles, he noted.
"We find, with our
business model, we
are much more suc-
cessful when we can
build a network of
locations in a geogra-
phy," Cerasuolo said.
"This is a pretty good
distance [between
Columbus and Jackson] to
kind of build that network."
ADS chose to increase its
rate of acquisitions in 2014
and since has now purchased
2 4 c o m p a n i e s ; C e r a s u o l o
credited the company's inter-
nal infrastructure for the
ability to process the high vol-
ume of acquisitions. "It's not
just about having the money,
and even having the targets,
you've got to have a team that
can handle the integration."
Cerasuolo added that ADS
avoids setting targets for
acquisitions in order to focus
more on the fit for companies
it purchases.
"I am thrilled to bring my
customers and employees
with me to ADS," Collums
said in the announcement.
"Their history of providing
legendary ser vice to each
customer makes me feel con-
fident that everyone will be in
fantastic hands moving for-
ward. There is a bright future
for ADS in Central Missis-
sippi."
SSN
ADS acquires in Mississippi
Twelve percent of
Canadian broadband
homes own smart device
DALLAS—International IoT research
firm Parks Associates released new
research today showing 12 percent
of broadband households in Canada
have a smart home device such as a
smart thermostat, smart door look, or
video doorbell, compared to 26% in
the U.S. According to "Smart Home
and Security in Canada," a study form
Parks, the security market in Canada is
starting to leverage these solutions to
drive new growth in their market.
In Canada, 25 percent of broad-
band households have an active home
security system, 70 percent of which
have professional monitoring, and 25
percent of professionally monitored
households plan to switch providers
over the next year, Parks said.
"Canada's security market is stable
but with high attrition rates, which
makes market expansion difficult, and
the security providers, telcos, and
cablecos don't want to keep pushing
their services to the top of the hill only
to have subscribers switch or can-
cel just to save a few dollars," Brad
Russell, research director, connected
home, Parks Associates, said in a pre-
pared statement. "These companies
are investing in smart home adjacen-
cies that add value to traditional secu-
rity offerings and help with subscriber
retention. Innovative services in health
and PERS will help secure customers."
Parks Associates also revealed that
networked cameras, smart door locks,
and products such as video doorbells
are increasingly part of provider options
in Canada. The provider goals include
increasing retention and expanding the
base of households seeking fee-based
monitoring. Smart Home and Security
in Canada indicates voice control
options could also drive consumer
interest in IoT innovations.
Comcast and Tile partner
on new integration
PHILADELPHIA—Comcast in late April
announced a new partnership with Tile
that will enable Xfinity customers to
use their Xfinity X1 Voice Remote to
locate Tile devices anywhere and see
the results of their search on the televi-
sion.
"This is a home automation part-
nership that helps solve real-life prob-
lems," Sri Solur, senior vice president,
Comcast Cable, said in a prepared
statement. "Now, when a child arrives
home from school, a parent can sim-
ply say, 'Xfinity Home where's Sam's
backpack?' into their voice remote and
see that it was left at school. This is
just one of the many peace of mind
features we are making available to our
customers on our evolving home auto-
mation platform."
By Spencer Ives
ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Doyle
Security Systems was recently
recognized on Best Compa-
nies Group's annual list of
top employers. Judy Kata-
fiaz, Doyle's human resources
director, talked with Security
Systems News about the com-
pany culture and employee
engagement that garnered this
designation.
"It's really an honor and
we're very excited. It's the first
year that we've made the list
and I think it speaks to all the
work that we're doing to try
to be a great place to work,"
Katafiaz said.
The medium-sized category
features companies that have
between 100 and 250 employ-
ees, Katafiaz said; Doyle cur-
rently has about 120. Doyle
Security was named number
12 of 19 companies listed in
the category.
What makes Doyle a great
place to work? "I really think
it has to do with the leader-
ship. Our CEO, John Doyle,
has created an atmosphere that
is just so amazing—it's a very
friendly atmosphere," Katafiaz
said. "There are challenges, we
work hard, but you never have
to worry that someone's going
to ask you to do something
you're not comfortable doing.
Meetings are very polite and
professional. We have a ton of
fun." The company has a com-
mittee that plans different fun
events, Katafiaz noted.
The company's culture is
designed around open com-
munication, according to
Katafiaz. The company con-
ducts two to three anony-
mous employee engagement
surveys each year. "Employ-
ees are absolutely encouraged
to say whatever they think in
any of the categories, and they
can write comments and ask
questions through this chan-
nel," she said, adding that
these surveys are followed by
meetings in each department
with opportunities for discus-
sion of the results, other ques-
tions, and brainstorming.
"Almost everything we do
has a component of open com-
munication. We have monthly
breakfast meetings with the
whole company and there's
always time in the agenda for
questions and answers," said
Katafiaz.
"Being recognized as one
of the best places to work in
New York is a testament to our
amazing employees and to our
culture," John Doyle, com-
pany CEO, said in a prepared
statement. "We believe that
having an engaging workplace
is the key to being a great com-
pany."
SSN
By SSN Staff
S E A T T L E — A m a z o n
announced in late April that
it is jumping into the home
security business with the
unveiling of five security
packages for both home-
owners and renters. What is
most interest-
ing about this
a n n o u n c e -
m e n t ,
t h o u g h , i s
A m a z o n ' s
g o - t o - m a r-
k e t s t r a t -
e g y, w h i c h
involves no
m o n t h l y
fees, just an
upfront cost
for the equip-
ment pack-
age. Plus, all
five equip-
ment packages include free
installation and visits from
Amazon smart home experts
to go over what is the best fit
prior to choosing an option.
For those who have been
following the success of
Amazon's Alexa, this move
really shouldn't come as a
surprise, especially consid-
ering all of the inroads Ama-
zon has been making in the
smart home space, from its
acquisition of Ring, the smart
doorbell company, to its new
in-home delivery service,
Amazon Key, that features its
Cloud Cam and partnerships
with smart lock providers.
Some of the new offerings
work in tandem with Ama-
zon's Echo and Alexa. Ama-
zon is offer-
ing two out-
door security
packages and
three indoor
p a c k a g e s .
The first out-
door pack-
age, for $240,
i n c l u d e s
"expert smart
lighting that
w i l l m a k e
it look like
you're home,"
the website
reads, while
the Outdoor Plus package
adds in a smart doorbell.
For indoor security, the base
package for $320, which is
"perfect for renters" the web-
site says, includes motion,
door and window sensors, an
indoor camera, smart siren
and smart home hub. Home-
owners can choose from
Smart for $575 or Smartest
for $840, each of which adds
devices to the base package.
SSN
Amazon enters
security space
John Cerasuolo
For indoor security,
the base package
for $320, which is
"perfect for renters"
the website says,
includes motion,
door and window
sensors, an indoor
camera, smart siren
and smart home hub
.
www.securitysystemsnews.com June 2018 S e C u RITY SYST e MS ne WS
Residential s ystems 24
residential s ystems